Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive issued the Good Practice Guidance to service providers on the basis that they were expected to implement the recommendations from within current resources.At national level the health budget will rise from £5.9 billion this year to £6.9 billion in 2003-04, representing around one third of the total Scottish Executive budget. It is important that local NHS boards and trusts are able to take decisions about the allocation of the resources at local level to meet local needs and priorities. The wide-ranging review of audiology services, commissioned by the Executive, will monitor the extent of the implementation of the guidance and will provide robust evidence and recommendations on how NHSScotland should address shortfalls identified. The review will report in the autumn.

To help inform local and national decisions on staff numbers for audiology services, the Executive has initiated a wide-ranging review of audiology services, which is due to report in full in autumn 2002. The review group is expected to provide an initial profile on staffing and skill-mix by the end of March 2002.

Scottish ministers do not have the power to place convicted sex offenders outwith Scotland whilst they are serving their sentence. Local authorities have the power to place outwith Scotland, young people who have sexually offended or are displaying sexually aggressive behaviour, if that is necessary. Information on how many young people this has involved, is not held centrally.

The latest available information from ISD Scotland, indicates that there were three consultant vacancies and no staff grade vacancies in the specialty of cardiothoracic surgery, at 30 September 2000.The number of higher specialist training posts available in Scotland is regularly adjusted to meet the projected number of new consultants needed to meet known and anticipated turnover and local service developments. In March 2001 the specialist registrar establishment for cardiothoracic surgery was increased from 10 to 13.

The wide-ranging review of audiology services initiated by the Executive will report its findings on this in the autumn. The research report recently released by the Royal National Institute for Deaf people, which collected anonymised data, included examination of the extent to which the Good Practice Guidance is being applied across the service and would indicate that not all audiology departments are currently meeting the standards.

The Executive supports the conclusions of the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force report of March 2001, which seek to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of clinical research. The Executive will continue to liaise with the Department of Health about progressing issues jointly where appropriate.Issues more appropriately progressed separately in a Scottish context will be taken forward through the Pharmaceutical Liaison Group. This group, chaired by the Chief Scientist, is a forum designed to allow discussion of matters of shared interest to the Scottish Executive Health Department, NHSScotland and pharmaceutical interests. The group plans to meet next in April 2002.

There are three residential facilities in Scotland that provide specialist treatment and rehabilitation for young people of sixteen and under, who have committed a sexual offence or are displaying sexually aggressive behaviour. These are St Mary's Kenmure, Kibble and Geilsland.The Executive will announce shortly its response to the Expert Panel on Sex Offending report. This will include how we will take forward its recommendation that we review current provision in relation to assessment and intervention programmes and provision for this age group.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:The prescribing of medication in relation to substance misuse is a matter for the individual medical professionals concerned.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-23846 today.Sources of diazepam include sold or stolen prescriptions and illegal imports. The number of seizures of benzodiazepines across Scotland was higher in 1999 (663) than in 1998 (647). The reclassification earlier this year of diazepam from Schedule 4 part II (Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1985) to a revised Schedule 4 Part I (Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001) makes it an offence to possess diazepam without a prescription, which will help the police in reducing diversion of the drug.Clinicians can prescribe diazepam to illicit drug users under a long-term benzodiazepine withdrawal programme, and guidance is set out in Drug misuse and Dependence-guidelines on Clinical Management.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:All prisoners benefit from the services of appropriately qualified health and social care professionals who, among other things, work with those prisoners suffering from mental health problems.